Looking at the top of the tent, Ning Que thought of the traces after he left the City of Wei.
Along the way, the curtain of the luxurious horse carriage was always closed. Except for the little boy, who obviously had barbarian blood, who occasionally got off the carriage to play, there was no chance to see the princess at all. Only the delicate and arrogant maidservant gave orders from time to time.
Somehow, the maidservant liked to call Sangsang over for a chat.
Or somehow, the maidservant did not hide her dislike for him at all.
Ning Que felt that she was a very good actress. Because no matter in the City of Wei or on the journey, it was hard to tell that she was not a maidservant from the attitude of those grassland men and her temperament and expression.
It was this point that made him feel a little strange. He always thought that the real nobles in the upper class of the Tang Empire should not have too much sympathy for Sangsang.
But these were not the things he really cared about. In the past few days, he had been paying attention to the old man in an old robe in the horse carriage. If he guessed correctly, the old man with a gentle expression should be the sublime being from the South School of Haotian Taoism mentioned by General Ma.
Since he was very young, Ning Que had been determined to step into that mysterious world, but he could not find the right way. He was willing to go back to the capital with this team because there was such a real cultivator in the team.
Unfortunately, along the way, he had never found a chance to talk to the old man who was closely protected. Only when they stopped to eat in the camp, he could occasionally meet the old man's eyes for a moment. At that moment, he seemed to see the gentleness and even encouragement in the old man's eyes, which made him a little puzzled.
Ning Que could not figure it out after thinking and analyzing, so he withdrew his attention. Only then did he find that the pair of little feet in his arms had not been warmed, and were still as cold as a lump of ice. Even his chest and abdomen were cold. He could not help but frown worriedly.
The little handmaiden Sangsang had suffered too much when she was young. She was wrapped in wind and rain and rotten air by the side of the road for several days, and after being picked up by him, she became seriously ill and did not recover for several months.
The military doctor in the City of Wei had examined her, and he had even taken her to the faraway Kaiping Prefecture to have a look. All the doctors had the same opinion: congenitally deficient, with a weak and cold constitution.
Due to her extremely cold physique, Sangsang rarely sweated. She could not expel the waste toxins that were produced every day, which made her body worse and worse over time. Therefore, Ning Que followed the doctor's advice and made her do a large amount of exercise every day to slightly improve the cold environment in her body. This was also the real reason why he always ordered this dark and skinny little handmaiden around like a donkey in the eyes of others.
Even if she worked so hard every day, it didn't always warm her up. For example, at this moment, the woolen mattress was like an icehouse.
Ning Que got up and rubbed his frozen stomach. He took out the leather wineskin from the corner and patted Sangsang awake. Then he put the wineskin to her lips.
Sangsang opened her eyes in a daze and took the wineskin naturally. She skillfully unscrewed the cork and tilted her head back to pour the wine into her mouth. Not a single drop of wine spilled out, but the tent was still filled with the spicy aroma of wine. It seemed to be the strong wine used in the grassland.
The skinny little handmaiden held the big wineskin and drank to her heart's content. Two bowls of strong wine could knock out a big man, but she drank half of the bag in one go until her stomach slightly bulged. It was hard to describe this scene as heroic, but a little weird.
She wiped her lips, and her willow-like eyes became brighter in the dark. It was impossible to tell that she had drunk wine. She smiled at Ning Que and then fell back to sleep.
The room was filled with the strong aroma of wine. The cold feet in his arms gradually warmed up. Ning Que looked at the few drops of sweat on the tip of her nose and finally felt relieved. He wiped the sweat on his forehead.
Ning Que wrapped the woolen mattress tightly and slowly closed his eyes. Not far from his face was the tattered Article on the Response of the Tao. Every day before he slept, he would read a few pages. Even if he didn't read it, he would silently recite it in his heart. It was a habit that he had developed over the years.
"May all living beings cultivate the Art of Dying of Old Age. May all disasters and poisons not harm their lives."
"May all living beings never grow old or get sick, live a long life, and enter the path of wisdom bravely."
In his light sleep, his mind began to slowly circulate along with the words on the scroll, along with those seemingly simple but actually muddy and difficult to understand perception techniques.
Gradually, the woolen mattress covering him and Sangsang disappeared, the simple tent disappeared, the grass outside the tent disappeared, and the stream turned into a cloud of white mist and then became invisible. The whole world became a world of mutual existence. In this world, they could vaguely feel some kind of breathing in a mysterious rhythm. Between the breath of the world, the breath of the world gradually became a sea, and it was a warm world.
Ning Que was no stranger to this magical feeling. Many years ago, after he read the Article on the Response of the Tao for the first time, he could often feel it before he fell asleep. But he was very clear about the sad fact that this was not a real feeling after meditation, but a dream.
The warm ocean was probably an illusion in the dream, because the pair of feet wrapped in thick cotton socks in his arms gradually became warm. But it was also a very beautiful illusion.
Comforting himself in this way, Ning Que fell into a deep sleep. It was a dark and sweet night without dreams.
…
…
When he woke up the next morning, Ning Que slept very well. But his expression was full of shock and dissatisfaction, as if he wanted to sleep for another three days and three nights.
"Why did you change the route?"
Looking at the indifferent maidservant in front of him, he suppressed his emotions and said as gently as possible, "Go through Min Mountain and straight to Huaxi Road. There will be no problem with the route I chose."
No one in the tent, including the maidservant, answered his question.
"I am the guide, and you are not familiar with Min Mountain at all." Ning Que looked at the maidservant and said after a moment of silence, "I know you are worried about being ambushed. I can assure you that as long as you listen to me, no one can stop you."
The maidservant looked at him as if looking at a stone. What she wanted to express was very clear: What qualifications do you have for me to explain to you?
Returning to his own tent, Ning Que looked at Sangsang who was packing and said, "Send them to this road and we will leave immediately."
Taking out the simple map that he had drawn years ago, he pointed at a place and said, "This is the furthest we can follow them. If we go any further, they will only need to send a few teams of horses to kill this team."
"You should persuade them." Sangsang said with her head raised.
"I guess there are troops coming to the rescue of the princess, so they will not listen to me." Ning Que replied, "I am not good at persuading a group of pig-like companions."
Sangsang did not speak but asked with her eyes, "Since there are people coming to the rescue, why are you still so worried and even ready to slip away halfway?"
"My intuition is wrong."
Ning Que replied, "Because I believe that a fierce person who dares to assassinate the Fourth Princess of the Tang Empire will not be as stupid as that woman. She has a few backup plans."
Sangsang wanted to say something but stopped and reminded him, "You … should speak politely to her."
"I know her real identity." Ning Que raised his eyebrows and said sarcastically, "So what if she is a princess? I have said in the City of Wei that she is an idiot princess. "
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